The Commission may pay temporary wage loss benefits while you’re off work for your compensable injury and doing one or more of the following:

Receiving medical treatment

Participating in early and safe return-to-work

Participating in a labour market re-entry program

Wage loss benefits are equal to 80% of your pre-injury net earnings. Your net earnings are your gross pay less probable Employment Insurance, Canada Pension Plan and Income Tax deductions. There is a limit of $63,420 on the amount of gross earnings insured (maximum compensable ceiling). The Commission does not pay for any union dues, health care insurance or any other deductions you normally pay.

The Commission usually calculates your wage loss benefits based on your average earnings. When calculating your average earnings, we look at the four pay periods immediately before the injury. At 13 weeks, the Commission will generally recalculate your average earnings based on what you earned for the 12 months before the injury and may include employment insurance benefits.

Should you become entitled to them, the Commission considers Canada Pension Plan disability benefits (related to the injury) and employer-sponsored pension benefits as earnings and deducts these from your compensation benefits. We may also deduct other benefits paid to you by your employer while you are receiving wage loss benefits.

If you are participating in an Early and Safe Return-to-Work (ESRTW) program, your employer must pay you for the work you perform and the Commission will pay the difference (up to your compensation rate).

Where there is entitlement, the Commission may pay wage loss benefits until a worker turns 65. A worker who is 63 or older at the time of injury, however, may receive these benefits for a maximum of 2 years.